An apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell includes a first and second measurement electrodes respectively on a positive electrode and a negative electrode of the battery cell to measure a leakage current; a current measuring device to measure a leakage current; and a data processor to process a measured leakage current data. The first and second measurement electrodes each have a structure in which a plurality of unit electrodes to which coordinate information is assigned are collected. The current measuring device measures a leakage current flowing through the unit electrode of the first measurement electrode and the unit electrode of the second measurement electrode that have the same coordinate information. The data processing part checks the location of a foreign material from a leakage current data through a coordinate information of a unit electrode having a large leakage current.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell, comprising: a first measurement electrode and a second measurement electrode disposed respectively on a positive electrode and a negative electrode of the battery cell to measure a leakage current; a current measuring device configured to measure a leakage current; and a data processor configured to process a measured leakage current data, wherein the first and second measurement electrodes each have a structure in which a plurality of unit electrodes to which coordinate information is assigned are collected, wherein the current measuring device is configured to measure a leakage current flowing through the unit electrode of the first measurement electrode and the unit electrode of the second measurement electrode that have the same coordinate information and are electrically connected, and wherein the data processing part is configured to check the location of a foreign material from a leakage current data through a coordinate information of a unit electrode having a large leakage current.
2. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1, further comprising, a first jig and a second jig, wherein the first and second jigs are configured to press a laminate of the first and second measurement electrodes and the battery cell to be evaluated from both sides with the laminate being interposed between the first and second jigs.
3. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1, wherein the battery cell is a monocell in which a low-voltage defect has been confirmed, and is a monocell having a positive electrode/a separator/a negative electrode structure.
4. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1, wherein the unit electrodes are arranged in a matrix in horizontal and vertical directions, having a coordinate information according to the matrix.
5. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1, wherein the unit electrodes each have a same volume and shape, and each have a rectangular parallelepiped or a regular hexahedron shape.
6. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1, wherein the unit electrode of the first measurement electrode and the unit electrode of the second measurement electrode having the same coordinate information constitute a single current circuit, and wherein the current measuring device is configured to simultaneously measure each leakage current of current circuits corresponding to the number of the coordinate information.
7. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 6, further comprising a printed circuit board (PCB) including a plurality of current circuits corresponding to the number of the coordinate information.
8. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 7, wherein the printed circuit board includes a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB).
9. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1, further comprising an amplifier for amplifying a leakage current.
10. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1, further comprising a power source configured to apply an external power source to a current circuit formed by the unit electrode of the first measurement electrode and the unit electrode of the second measurement electrode.
11. A method for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell comprising: screening a low-voltage monocell causing a low-voltage in a battery cell including a plurality of monocells; and specifying the location of a foreign material using the apparatus for detecting according to claim 1 by measuring a leakage current of the screened low-voltage monocell.
12. The method for detecting a location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 11, wherein the screening a low-voltage monocell comprises: opening a negative electrode portion of the low-voltage battery cell, cutting a negative electrode tab welding part, inserting an insulating film between each negative electrode; measuring an initial open circuit voltage (OCV1) of each negative electrode; pressurizing the low-voltage battery cell; and screening of a low-voltage monocell by monitoring an open circuit voltage of each negative electrode over time.
13. A method for analyzing a foreign material of a low-voltage defective battery cell, comprising: screening a low-voltage monocell causing a low-voltage in a battery cell including a plurality of monocells; specifying the location of a foreign material using the apparatus for detecting according to claim 1 by measuring a leakage current of the screened low-voltage monocell; and analyzing the type of the foreign material by sampling the vicinity of the location of the specified foreign material.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
December 8, 2022
May 13, 2025
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.